Mark Hughes and Tony Pulis have more in common than they might realise and care to acknowledge as they now boast the distinction of signing both Darren Fletcher and Gareth Barry.

Hughes signed Barry for Manchester City and took Fletcher off Pulis’ hands in the summer, while Pulis took Fletcher to West Brom and has now replaced him there with the recent acquisition of Barry from Everton.

Time will tell which manager fares best from this summer’s little merry-go-round between Fletcher and Barry... but Hughes is clearly happy with his side of the bargaining..

Fletcher returns to The Hawthorns with a predictably resounding commendation ringing in his ear from Hughes as he recalled this summer’s deal for the out-of-contract Scotsman.

“It did seem to happen very quickly,” said Hughes. “I think Darren had made his mind up that he was going to look at other options if they were good options, and if they suited him better then he was free to investigate those.

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“That’s what he did and we were able to convince him that this was the right place for him at this stage in his career.

“We’re delighted with what he’s brought to the party already. He’s only been here a short while, but he’s already having a big influence on the group and his leadership qualities are there for everyone to see.

“You don't want to lose your captain under any circumstances, but they (Albion) have gone into the market to address that.”

Hughes signed Barry from Aston Villa for around £12m in July 2009 and he would make 173 appearances - and win two league titles - over the next five years.

Hughes continued: “He's got huge experience, he’s been involved in winning teams, teams that understand what it takes to win.

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“Gareth has been a mainstay of almost every team he’s been involved in for a long time.

“He’s been a big influence on every team he’s played at. You don’t get that number of league games unless you're a very accomplished player.

“You’ve got to be resolute and have the physicality to be able to cope with game after game.

“The mentality to be able to do that is really important, too, you have to recover, you have to get your mindset on different challenges, that’s what the Premier League does because different teams will give you different problems to solve.”

Asked if he’d considered re-signing Barry before bringing Fletcher to Stoke City this summer, he added: “No, we had the opportunity to get Darren over the line and that was something we wanted to pursue. There’s was no point in looking elsewhere, we felt we had the right player in the right position for us,”